Phil Miller Arts Correspondent phil.miller@theherald.co.uk The new director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe fears comedy could soon take it over, to the detriment of genres such as theatre and dance.
Jon Morgan, who this year directs his first Fringe, believes that arts funding bodies need to financially support theatre and dance which, because of higher costs, could be be supplanted by cheaper comedy shows.
Comedy has for decades been the most high-profile genre at the Fringe, with big names - for example, this year Ricky Gervais will play to 8000 people at Edinburgh Castle - and high-profile awards such as the Perrier, now known as the if.comedies.
Mr Morgan, formerly an administrator of Glasgow's TAG Theatre Company and Manchester's Contact Theatre, said the Fringe could become a "single-genre event".
"My big worry is theatre and dance," he said. "Comedy is important, but I don't want it to be just a comedy festival, I want it to be a cross-artform festival.
"Comedy is not yet dominating, but it's a close race, there's about as much comedy as there is theatre," he said.
"Comedy on the whole is cheaper to run. It's really important for the vibrancy of the festival to make sure that theatre and dance is as vibrant as the rest of it. But it's up to other people to intervene to make sure that happens."
"I would like the Scottish Arts Council and the Arts Council of England to have a much more generous attitude towards the festival," said Mr Morgan, who wants to meet both bodies to urge them to provide more funds for theatre and dance at the Fringe.
"There's been a tendency to not want to fund things going to the Festival because it is seen as a black hole into which all their funding will disappear. If they really want to encourage artists, going to the Fringe is an important way of developing as an artist," he said.
"Just because of the economics, theatre and dance are the most vulnerable I think, which is why I think there should be some kind of subsidised intervention.
"Companies choose not to come because although they see the benefits, they don't have the resources to make the investment."
Although the Fringe is the biggest festival of its kind in the world, the Fringe society is a small operation with modest funding: Mr Morgan heads a staff of 12 and there are no funds for helping companies.
Last year was the most successful in the Fringe's 60 years, with 1.5 million tickets sold.
Mr Morgan said that the city's council needed to co-ordinate its response to the annual event more coherently, particularly when it comes to public entertainment licences.
"My main concern is that decisions are made in some departments of the council and the implications for the Fringe and the festival are not considered all that carefully," he said.
"For instance, currently it is more expensive to get a temporary licence than a permanent licence, even though the temporary one is only for three weeks."
Mr Morgan said: "I think individually, most people in the (council) departments think that the Fringe and the Festival is beneficial, but it involves a lot of extra work and resources for the city and they don't get a lot of direct revenue: it all goes to hoteliers, restaurants, and so on, it's all indirect."
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